A Message from David...

Hi everyone,

We are already at the end of week 3 of Term 2. It feels as though the year is flying by. Our school has been a hive of activity so far this term and it won't be slowing down anytime soon.

NAPLAN

All year 3 & 5 students will participate in NAPLAN assessments on the 12th, 13th and 14th of May. The students in those year levels have been preparing for the assessments so they understand and feel comfortable and confident with the style of testing. The results of the assessments will be available to parents mid-term 3. A brochure was published on Compass earlier in the week for any parents or carers who would like further information.

Mother's & Special Person's Day

We have taken a slightly different direction with this year's celebration with locally sourced and handmade gifts for the stall and the picnic and Devonshire tea for our event. We wanted to make the change from the traditional high tea as we wanted all mums and special people to be able to attend the event with their children and for our stall to be able to support local businesses. 

A huge thank you to Gaby for her organisation of the stall and the event and to all the other volunteers that have worked behind the scenes to help create such a successful occasion for all of our families.

I hope all the mums and other special people in our community have a wonderful day on Sunday and are able to relax, get spoilt and enjoy the day with their loved ones.

Green Team

Hannah has started the AGPS Green Team. This is a group of students that are passionate about helping the environment working together to make Altona Green a greener place. Hannah and the Green Team will be working on an action plan developed through the Resource Smart Schools program.

If you are interested in developing and promoting sustainable practices for our school and would like to support Hannah and the Green Team, please contact Hannah via email hannah.dallas@education.vic.gov.au to get involved.

Farmers Market

We were really pleased to be able to showcase our wonderful kitchen garden program to the wider community last week at the Altona Meadows Farmers Market. We had many interested visitors to our stall and they were very keen to learn all about the program and about our school. 

I would like to thank Trish, Stella, Pina, Annabelle, Tracy and Meagan for the tremendous amount of effort put in to get the items ready to be sold. The stall looked amazing and the range of items was impressive. I would also like to thank the school captains and the KEFAR leaders who did a great job manning the stall all day and were wonderful representatives for our school.

Kitchen Garden

Our new Kitchen Specialist, Stella, has settled into her role and the kitchen classes have commenced this week. There was a wonderful sense of joy from the students when I visited them in the kitchen this week - it was evident that the kitchen classes have been sorely missed! They all looked to be having a great time working together and creating gourmet pizzas. We hope that they come home and utilise these skills in their kitchens at home.

Cross Country

It was a glorious day for a run last Friday at the District Cross Country Championships. Our students were great competitors in their events and were so supportive and encouraging of all the other students from all the other schools. I would like to congratulate the following students that have qualified for the Regional Championships:

Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) Survey

School Council has formed a working party to review the current OSHC service and seek further information from our community about the needs and wants from the service in the future. A survey will be sent via Compass next week to gather your thoughts. 

Walk Safely to School Day

We are participating in Walk Safely to School Day this year. Altona Meadows is a great suburb for human-powered commuting as it is so flat and relatively quiet. We encourage families to walk to school on Friday the 14th May and to discuss and practise the following safety messages:

• Hold a grown-up's hand when you cross the road
• Hold a grown-up's hand when you're in the car park
• Use a safe place to cross the road (particularly our school crossing)
• Stop! Look! Listen! Think! Every time you cross the road
• Be mindful of driveways and cars reversing out
• Wait till the bus has gone, then use a safe place to cross the road

Pupil Free Days

A reminder that School Council has endorsed the following pupil free days:

• Monday, 17th May
• Monday, 12th July
• Monday, 1st November

2022 Preps

If you have a child beginning prep in 2022, please contact the office as this greatly assists us with planning. Thank you to all those families that have already done so.

We are offering school tours for any families that are considering Altona Green for their 2022 prep child. The tours will be held on the following dates:

• 9:30am Tuesday 25th May
• 9:30am Tuesday 15th June

Please register your interest in attending any of these tours by contacting the office 9360 0777 or via email altona.green.ps@education.vic.gov.au 

Thanks for another wonderful fortnight. I hope you all have a great weekend and the Dees keep their unbeaten run going!

Take care,

David